December 24

And it came to pass when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies, ²He said to Nathan the prophet: Dost thou see that I dwell in a house of cedar, and the ark of God is lodged within skins? ³And Nathan said to the king: Go, do all that is in thy heart: because the Lord is with thee. ⁴But it came to pass that night, that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: ⁵Go, and say to my servant David: Thus saith the Lord: Shalt thou build me a house to dwell in? ⁸And now thus shalt thou speak to my servant David: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: a I took thee out of the pastures from following the sheep to be ruler over my people Israel: ⁹And I have been with thee wheresoever thou hast walked, and have slain all thy enemies from before thy face: and I have made thee a great man, like unto the name of the great ones that are on the earth. ¹⁰And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them, and they shall dwell therein, and shall be disturbed no more: neither shall the children of iniquity afflict them any more as they did before, ¹¹From the day that I appointed judges over my people Israel: and I will give thee rest from all thy enemies. And the Lord foretelleth to thee, that the Lord will make thee a house. ¹²And when thy days shall be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹⁴I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son: and if he commit any iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men. ¹⁶And thy house shall be faithful, and thy kingdom for ever before thy face, and thy throne shall be firm for ever.

²The mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever. I will shew forth thy truth with my mouth to generation and generation. ³For thou hast said: Mercy shall be built up for ever in the heavens: thy truth shall be prepared in them. ⁴I have made a covenant with my elect: I have sworn to David my servant: ⁵Thy seed will I settle for ever. And I will build up thy throne unto generation and generation. ²⁷He shall cry out to me: Thou art my father: my God, and the support of my salvation. ²⁹I will keep my mercy for him for ever: and my covenant faithful to him.

℟ The mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever.

And Zachary his father was filled with the Holy Ghost; and he prophesied, saying: ⁶⁸Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people: ⁶⁹And hath raised up an horn of salvation to us, in the house of David his servant: ⁷⁰As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who are from the beginning: ⁷¹Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us: ⁷²To perform mercy to our fathers, and to remember his holy testament, ⁷³The oath, which he swore to Abraham our father, that he would grant to us, ⁷⁴That being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear, ⁷⁵In holiness and justice before him, all our days. ⁷⁶And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways: ⁷⁷To give knowledge of salvation to his people, unto the remission of their sins: ⁷⁸Through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the Orient from on high hath visited us: ⁷⁹To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death: to direct our feet into the way of peace.